Tiny Ted Talks (TAaP-pre-verse)
by Earendil Eldar
Summary: Prequel to "There's Always a Price," or: How Jack Figured Out He Couldn't Go On Without Ianto (With Help From Tiny Ted). Also features "Allons-y Alonso." With thanks to badly-knitted for the idea. Tiny Ted is really becoming quite a character :)


Mr. Jack was miserable. That was obvious, even to Tiny Ted. Ever since he'd come back to put Mr. Jones' things away and taken Tiny Ted with him, Tiny Ted had sat by and watched Mr. Jack cry himself to sleep almost every night. And he usually smelt of strong alcohol, too. Sometimes Mr. Jack would reach out for Tiny Ted in the night and tuck him under his chin, murmuring thickly, "I never told him…."

Tiny Ted was getting worried. He missed Mr. Jones terribly as well, but he'd hoped he and Mr. Jack could take care of one another. Mr. Jack seemed to need quite a bit of care that Tiny Ted knew he couldn't begin to provide. It didn't bear thinking of losing Mr. Jack, too.

The night Mr. Jack had come back with someone else, Tiny Ted knew something had to give soon. At first, Tiny Ted had been excited, thinking that Mr. Jones had returned after all, only to find it wasn't Mr. Jones at all, but someone called Mr. Alonso. Mr. Alonso seemed quite nice and Mr. Jack seemed to like him very much, nearly as much as he had seemed to like Mr. Jones.

But something happened when Mr. Jack woke up in the night. He reached out for Tiny Ted, as he had many times (always calling him Ianto or Yan, which were also his special names for Mr. Jones). Then Mr. Jack stopped and his eyes went wide. He turned over in a blink, that special name faltering on his lips.

Mr. Alonso just grumbled in his sleep and flopped over.

"Sorry," Mr. Jack said quietly, "for a second I thought you…." And then Mr. Jack broke down, entirely. It was even worse than it had been when he'd been packing Mr. Jones' nice ties. Mr. Jack was no longer himself, howling in agony that scared Tiny Ted almost as much as that thing he'd heard wailing somewhere deep in the Hub the night before his introduction to Mr. Jones.

Mr. Alonso looked scared too as he tried his best to comfort or at least calm Mr. Jack who was alternately grasping Mr. Alonso like a lifeline and shoving him away, shouting "_How_ could I do that?!" at himself.

After a long while, Mr. Alonso, now dressed, seemed to get Mr. Jack to quiet down. Either that or Mr. Jack had just spent everything he'd had in him, Tiny Ted thought. Tiny Ted sat listening as Mr. Alonso asked about Mr. Jones and Mr. Jack told him how Mr. Jones – Ianto – had been everything that ever mattered. Mr. Jack said, flatly, that he'd have killed himself by now if it wouldn't just mean coming back and having to remember how 'Ianto' would hold him as life reasserted itself by force.

Tiny Ted didn't quite understand what Mr. Jack meant about that, but he wondered if Mr. Jones would come back the same way. Tiny Ted remembered clearly how Mr. Jones would cling to Mr. Jack at night when they returned home together after 'a death.' Tiny Ted was beginning to realize that those were always Mr. Jack's deaths that had worried Mr. Jones so much.

Mr. Jack kept talking to Mr. Alonso all night. It was only then that Tiny Ted learned what had happened to Mr. Jones, how they'd been fighting more of those aliens that Mr. Jones often complained of, and one of them had killed Mr. Jones… poisoned him, Mr. Jack said. Mr. Jack said that having to 'cryo' Mr. Jones' body was the worst thing he'd ever had to do because 'Ianto's' death hadn't even achieved anything. He'd just been 'collateral damage,' Mr. Jack said, sounding sick.

Mr. Alonso asked why Mr. Jack's organization cryogenically froze team members instead of giving them an interment, and Mr. Jack said that sometimes information was needed or cures had been found. He said that once in the '30s, the organization had brought back someone who died years earlier of Spanish flu. But Mr. Jack hadn't liked that at all, because they'd only done it as an experiment and had killed him again after a week's treatment had cured his flu.

Tiny Ted wished now with every fibre of his being that he could jump up and shout to Mr. Jack. He could communicate with other Tiny Teds easily, but it didn't seem that Big Jacks or Big Iantos could ever hear him, even if they sometimes talked to him or seemed to understand how he felt. Oh, why couldn't Mr. Jack understand now? Why couldn't Mr. Jack hear him? He'd be shouting, _roaring_ to the ears of any other Tiny Ted right now. 'Find the cure for Mr. Jones' flu!' Tiny Ted screamed in silent stuffing. 'Oh, _please_, listen now, Mr. Jack!'

"Jack…," Mr. Alonso said quietly. "What if… I mean, if you could unfreeze and cure Spanish flu decades ago…. If there's a cure out there for whatever the 456 unleashed…."

'Yes!' Tiny Ted cried, 'Mr. Alonso heard me! Listen to _him_, Mr. Jack!'

Mr. Jack seemed too sad to listen to either of them for a long while. "He's gone," Jack whispered brokenly.

"I don't exactly know you, Jack, at least not in any more than the Biblical sense, but why would you give up? There's a chance, surely. It's _love_, Jack. That's worth every chance and every risk."

'Please, Mr. Jack. Please try!' Tiny Ted thought desperately.

"Maybe I don't have the right." Mr. Jack said. "It wouldn't be the first time I forced someone to come back. It caused something terrible in someone I cared quite a lot about last time. I don't think I could bear it if it hurt Yan or he resented it. I mean, just because I always have to come back… doesn't give me the right to go around dragging everyone else back, too."

"Jack, do you think he loved you as much as you love him still?" Mr. Alonso asked.

'He did,' Tiny Ted answered.

"He did," Mr. Jack answered. "I know he did," Jack sobbed, "because he _wasn't_ afraid to tell me at the end."

"Well, I think you damn well owe him your response to that, Captain Harkness. You think bringing him back might be bad?" Mr. Alonso shook his head. "Not as bad as letting him go through eternity not knowing that he was your everything. You do your duty, Captain, and right now your duty is to set that right. If, after that, he wants nothing further, then you did all you could. But just now you're denying him something no one should ever be denied: the right to know how much one is loved. It's not up to you to withhold that information, sir."

Tiny Ted cheered Mr. Alonso's speech – and couldn't help thinking that it was just the sort of thing Mr. Jones would have said as well.

"You sound just like him," Mr. Jack murmured. After a long while, Mr. Jack took a long breath. "Sounds like I have my orders."

Mr. Alonso smiled and nodded.

Mr. Jack got out of bed and starting writing things down in a hurry. He paused for just a moment to glance at Tiny Ted on the nightstand. "Gettin' you back, Yan…. I only hope you'll have me."

'He will,' Tiny Ted thought.


End file.
